Investment in oil and gas sector targeted to increase 37%
Thursday, January 30 2014 - 03:01 PM WIB
Investment in the oil and gas sector is targeted to increase by 37 percent to US$26 billion this year from $19 billion based on the Work Program and Budget (WP&B), Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik said on Thursday.
"Last year, the investment stood at $19 billion, while this year it will reach $26 billion," Jero told reporters after a hearing with the House of Representatives in Jakarta, Wednesday.
Wacik said that a bulk of the investment will be used to enhance oil lifting at mature wells and to carry out exploration to discover new oil reserves.
"Previously, the decline rate of oil lifting reached 15 percent. After using the new technology, the decline rate could be reduced to only three percent," said Wacik.
Wacik also said there will be a revision of the oil lifting target set in the 2014 State Budget, adding the revised figures are being calculated by upstream authority SKK Migas.
Meanwhile, Y. Widjanarko, interim Chairman of SKK Migas, told Petromindo.com that his agency is ready to talk with the Ministry of Finance to follow up the recommendation of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that budget for the agency should be included in the state budget.
The recommendation was given last year following the bribery scandal involving suspended SKK Migas? Chairman Rudi Rubiandini, in an effort to curb corruption at SKK Migas.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon